Given the negative backlash, it’s clear that the short-lived Race Together campaign launched by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in order to “stimulate conversation, empathy and compassion” among Americans of all races was a social and commercial flop.

A responsible financial institution would not extend a new loan of between 17 and 40 billion dollars to a borrower already struggling to pay back an existing multi-billion dollar loan. Yet that is just what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did last month when it extended a new loan to the government of Ukraine.